Despite a raging Maoist insurgency, poverty declined sharply in Nepal from 1996 to 2004, falling to 31 percent from 42 percent, the World Bank reported. Remittances from migrant workers abroad nearly quadrupled, bolstering the income of a third of Nepal's families. And with a million Nepalese working abroad -- one of out every 11 adult men -- employers in Nepal had to compete for a shrinking pool of workers, helping drive up wages for farm workers by 25 percent and more than doubling wages for skilled labor. The insurgents signed a peace deal with the government this week.